An Oktoberfest Weekend

October has been my favorite month for most of my life, certainly as an adult. It's the Halloween season, don't you know! Since I was a kid, going up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall has been a family tradition. Apart from colorful fall foliage, the primary attraction for many decades was breakfast at Mabry Mill; sadly, the restaurant is no longer open. The leaves haven't turned yet, but the Virginia mountains are always beautiful, so we didn't mind going a little early this season. On Friday, Brugger and I drove up to Villa Appalaccia, our favorite winery within traveling distance, where we enjoyed an excellent tasting, a partial bottle of their excellent Dolcetto, and some light nibbles that we brought along with us. Following that, we drove over to nearby Chateau Morrisette Winery & Restaurant, where we had another very good tasting, followed by dinner at the restaurant. I had Osso Buco, which was enjoyable enough, though I'm afraid it was hardly my best dinner here. The shanks weren't as tender as they should have been, and the sauce did not go well with the accompanying polenta. Still, the restaurant is beautiful, with traditionally excellent food, and consistently good service, so my enthusiasm for it is no way is in no way diminished.

Below: Ms. B. and Old Dude at Villa Appalaccia and a couple of sunset views from the terrace at Chateau Morrisette.

Yesterday—Saturday—Brugger and I hauled ourselves, my books, and bookselling accoutrements uptown for Martinsville's 44th Annual Oktoberfest. I've been a regular vendor here for many years, and predictably for an event like this, sales can be very much hit or miss. Happily, this one was not at all a miss. I sold a record number of copies (which put me well into the black) and met lots of avid readers. I also ran into several good friends, some of whom I've not seen in far too many years.

 

Happily, good friends (and frequent traveling companions) Terry & Beth came up from Kernersville both to wander about Oktoberfest and hang out with us poor miscreants. After the fest was over and we'd broken down and packed up all our stuff, we all retired to Ground Zero for drinks and dinner. Ms. B. made a fantastic Italian chicken with basil & Parmesan on pasta that made us all very, very full. And then... cheesecake. Woot!

 

Below: A couple of images of Church Street during Oktoberfest.

Today, Ms. B. spent some time fixing up the living room to usher in the Halloween season, and this evening, we watched Night (Curse) of the Demon, which means things are getting real.

Beyond our own little corner of the world, things are far less content and "normal," so who's to say how the rest of our October (and beyond) will fare? For us this weekend, the world turned out to be very nice. I sure wish we all could enjoy much more peace, tranquility, and fulfillment. That said, I desperately wish certain people and parties wouldn't make that so damned hard.

“It’s in the Trees! It’s Coming!”

The Halloween season at Casa di Rodan is officially underway, for the required annual viewing of Jacques Tourneur’s Night (Curse) of the Demon is complete.

It’s not as though Brugger and I don't watch scary movies pretty much all the time, but it is an unbreakable tradition to kick off the Halloween season with several of our favorites, such as John Carpenter’s The Thing; Trick R Treat; It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; and, of course, the aforementioned Tourneur classic.

Night of the Demon (to use its proper UK release title) remains my favorite horror movie of all time, and Friday night was its turn on the screen. It still gives me a case of the creeps, mainly from remembering how deeply the image of the critter scared me as a young ’un. And I still love that critter; whatever its imperfections, I don’t believe the movie would be the classic it is without the thing.

A few of the past week’s cinematic highlights (and low points):

Brugger and I watched Smile at the theater the other night. We both found it needlessly heavy in the jump-scare department, but it was at times wonderfully eerie, and we liked it overall. There was 1999’s The House on Haunted Hill, which we both enjoy quite a bit (I’ll play the heretic here and admit that I prefer it to William Castle’s 1959 original). We watched the new Hellraiser on Hulu. This one had some merit, particularly in its exposition about the Lament cube, yet it still felt unremarkable and ultimately disappointing. We followed that up with the original Hellraiser, which I appreciate on a deeper level than the new one, but I can’t claim that it’s ever been a particular favorite. And we took in the original 1953 War of the Worlds last week, which I have adored since the first time it thrilled me as a seven-year-old. On my own, I watched The Houses October Built, mainly because I remembered it featured some cool haunted attractions and very creepy haunted attraction personnel. My memory was pretty accurate, and I was not disappointed.

One evening this past week, Ms. B. had a hankering to watch The Haunting from 1999, as she finds it entertaining. I hated the movie when it came out, but I was fine giving it another chance, as I have not watched it since its original release. Sadly, my opinion hasn’t changed. It’s awful. Not to fault her enjoyment of it; I can hardly claim to have no affinity for some admittedly awful movies...

The first of the season’s Halloween parties went off last night, at our friend Margaret’s place in Rural Hall. And what an affair! Margaret brought in a caterer for the food, offered beverage selections customized to attendees’ tastes, and provided various favors for the guests (fairly expensive ones, at that, and even cigars for those who might be interested). So, yeah, I indulged in a cigar (I blame Tony Tremblay for stoking that long-dormant vice at Necon back in July).

Brugger and I will be having a little bash here at home later this month, as will friends Terry & Beth (who accompanied us to a pre-Margaret-party visit to Hanover Park Winery yesterday afternoon). There may be others.

I do have a very busy week coming up. There will be updates later, no doubt.

Boo!

As a hobby, Kimberly’s dad builds these lovely miniature houses, barns, and other town buildings, which she
displays before our fireplace. Now they’re lit by Halloween lights — as they should be. 

Found at Lowe’s Foods in Lewisville, NC, on our way to friend Margaret’s party. Wowz!

I blame Tony Tremblay for the cigar craving. Note the lovely wine glass, courtesy of friend Margaret.

Day of the Dead

So, after work, I went out to Northeast Park to hide a new cache, which I figured I'd title "Day of the Dead," given it's about that time of the season, and all. Imagine my surprise when I got out to the trail and ran into the fellow you see pictured above.

I also ran into this:

And this:

And this:

I've listed the new cache, a nice little two-stage multi, indeed titled "Day of the Dead" (GC371JE), which I expect will be published at geocaching.com in the next day or two. You really just don't know what you're going to find in the woods sometimes. Me, I could hardly have been more pleased.

Since all this good stuff kicked my Halloween spirit into high gear—a day late—I went on and watched Curse (Night) of the Demon, my favorite horror film, just to make it official. I can't tell you how glad I am that I decided to go hide that cache rather than just head home and cook bison burgers. Of course, after the job was done, I did go and cook those burgers. The bison were almost dead....

And here's a little spoiler I left at ground zero for stage 1 that might help those who go hunting the cache: THE DEAD WALK